A Light in the World
by Esoteric Painter
Summary: After Aang finds himself in a strange town, he makes a decision that takes him into a battle against the delicate balance in the universe and his duty as Avatar, a war never before fought by any living soul, and a battle that will impact the entire world.
1. Prologue

**Author's note: This is my first fanfiction, so any advice on how I can improve will be appreciated.**

**Prologue:**

Sun rays peeked over the painted horizon, and vivid colors of reds and yellows reflected off the mirror-like expanse of ocean waters, casting a warm glow over the land. All was silent on this quiet morning. Even the birds seemed mute as they fluttered contentedly through tall trees of the woodland. The warm summer air was thick with humidity, save for the occasional salty breeze rolling in from the ocean. Over the side of a thirty-foot cliff from the forest's edge, gentle sea waters sloshed lazily against jagged rocks in a rhythmic pulse, darkening the pebbly ground.

Four weary travelers slept silently at the forest's edge. One was a young Water Tribe man with his sister. Another was a small, blind Earthbender girl. However, the last was different from the other travelers. He belonged neither to Water Tribe, Earth Kingdom, nor Fire Nation. To where then did he belong? The answer is quite simply this: nowhere and everywhere. He was the Avatar.

For a boy of only twelve years of age, he had been stripped quite forcefully of his childhood and thrown into a world only he alone can save. Within him laid awesome and great powers. He controlled sky, sea, and now recently earth. He had yet to master the element of energy, merely another burden he must carry.

Now, as the Avatar slept, escaping the brutal life he led fatiguingly, five dark forms moved furtively in the concealing shadows of the forest. Silently, they dashed toward the boy and his companions. Gloved hands snatched out, and one pressed over the Avatar's mouth, while the other simultaneously grasped an arm to drag him up.

The Avatar jolted awake to face painful reality. His muffled scream sounded from behind his captor's hand, and he threw his weight backwards. His captor stumbled, but held him tightly. Suddenly, a strong aroma wafted into the air. The Avatar felt his muscles relax, and he could not will himself to struggle any longer. His eyes rolled back, and his world went dark.


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's note: Just so my readers know, Aang is called 'the boy' for the beginning of the story for reasons that will be explained later.**

**Chapter 2:**

Dreams harassed his being, and the boy labeled Avatar slept in fitfulness. Then, as if a beckon from another universe, a faint voice stabbed into his mind's fabrication. "Honey?" it said kindly. He moved his lips to respond; no sound came out. "Darling, can you hear me?"

The boy was reluctantly drawn from the abyss of sleep to where reality no longer bled with imagination, and he felt soft fabrics under his fingers. Ah, he felt so warm. He never wanted to leave this warm sanctuary, yet the voice was persistent and prodded at him like a bothersome fly. His lips opened, and out croaked the words "Leave me."

"No, darling, you must get up," the voice said again. The boy recognized a woman's voice. "I have made you tea. Smell it?" A touch on the boy's forehead from cool fingers felt like an invasion into his soul, and he shuddered out of imagined luxuries. Slowly, he forced open his eyes, just a slight crack, and suddenly, a blazing stab of light cleaved at him, burning his eyes which had adjusted so well to sleep's darkness. He jerked violently away, squeezing his eyes shut again while his arms flung up to shield himself from the light. The cool fingers now stroked his head, and the woman said, "I will fix the light for you." There was a brief silence, then, "That's better. Open your eyes, child."

The boy obediently obliged. Indeed, the light had faded into a dim glow, but just as the light left, memories of what had happen returned to him, making the mysterious blinding light seem irrelevant.

A mug rose to his lips, and warm, flavorful liquid quenched the boy's leather throat. He drank gratefully until the woman pulled the mug away and placed it on a side table. He wished for more, but he was now able to ask more pressing questions. "Where am I?" His blurred vision focused wearily on the middle-aged woman, and both pairs of eyes met in curiosity.

The corners of the woman's eyes creased from ages of smiling and laughter, and she said in a smooth voice, "You are in the town of Nikkou." The name was not familiar to the boy. The woman pulled a chair from a corner of the room up to the boy's bed. She gathered her long, yellow robes before sitting. Her fingers laced together in a wise fashion. "Perhaps the question you were meaning to ask fell more along the lines of, 'why am I here?'. Am I correct?"

The boy's squinted gaze looked past her at a long, cheery room furnished with other beds which were occupied by children like him. His every movement was followed by their bright, prying eyes, and the boy could not help staring back at the children as he slowly nodded his head at the woman. "So then why _am_ I here?" he responded, "And where are my friends?" Fatigue rested upon his eyelids like lead, and he closed his eyes momentarily.

"Your friends are well enough," she said gently. Then an abrupt laugh startled the boy, and his eyes opened to face the woman. "And I don't know why you're here!" the woman cackled, much unlike the soft, comforting tone that had come from her just minutes ago.

The boy was irritated. She was toying with him. He pushed himself up with the woman's eager aid. Trembling fists clenched the yellow and orange blankets as the boy eyed the woman with all seriousness. His voice lowered to a man's deep tone and spoke venomously. "You tell me where I am, what I'm doing here, and where my friends are!" The room tilted as dizziness warped the boy's vision, but his increasing anger pushed it aside. He locked his gaze on the scowling woman.

"Your friends are well," was her repeated response. "I don't know too much, but I can tell you the little tidbit that I do know. You are in Nikkou, and you and your friends are here because we, the town, didn't want to risk you coming too close to our home."

_By bringing us here?_ thought the boy angrily. "Let me see my friends." His weight leaned back against propped pillows as his arms folded across his chest in the stubborn manner he had grown to adopt from other Nomads at the Air Temple.

The woman stood up from her seat, gathering her robes in slender fingers. "All in good time, Aang," she said, and she twirled around and exited through a large door at the other end of the room. _Aang._

The very moment the door clicked closed behind the woman, the boy threw back the blankets and slid off the bed. Feet touched cold stone, and his eyes remained unfocused. Absently, he sunk to his knees, eyes blurred with tears shed from pain, both physical and physiological. His weight leaned against the bed, hands pressed into the hollows of his eyes. Where he was, the boy did not know. All he knew was that he wanted his friends to be safe; they were the only reason, the boy realized, that kept him living the ultimate struggle of right and wrong, life and death, and pleasure and misery.

A quiet and polite cough from beside him averted his eyes upward to face the bright and curious eyes of a young girl. One arm cradled a Water Tribe doll, the other, a blanket which she clung to with her tiny paws. Her foot scuffed the stone floor timidly. "Um, hullo," she said in a high, soft voice, and yet, it comforted the boy enough to respond with an exchanged "hello". The girl smiled to reveal crooked, white primary teeth with a large gap where a front tooth had fallen out. Happily, she skipped over and dropped to the floor beside the boy. Delicate, warm fingers stretched up to wipe a tear drop off the boy's chin. "Why are you crying? Are you sick, too?" she asked him, wrapping her arms around one of his arms.

The boy smiled, greatly comforted. This girl's innocence and strength touched him like warmth from the sun. "Yes, but I'm getting better," he told her.

The girl withdrew her arms and gazed down at her doll. Carefully like a caring mother, she tucked a piece of the doll's yarn hair aside. "Um, do you want to be friends?"

The abrupt question surprised the boy, and he studied the girl's kind face for a moment. Finally he placed one arm around her shoulders, and said, "Yes, let's be friends."

The girl seemed ecstatic to make a new friend, and her light blue eyes shone joyously. Her tiny hand slipped into his, and he held it carefully as if it would break if he handled it too roughly. "I'm Kiku," she said, and the boy exchanged his name. Then another question was asked, one that surprised the boy greater than the previous one had. "I heard the big adults talking, and they kept saying an odd word." There was a brief hiatus in her words, and then came the question, "What's an Avatar?"

The boy's body stiffened, muscles tensing, but he dared not flinch. The girl's question was not a question; it was an answer to many of the boy's own queries. These people of Nikkou knew who he was, and a chill shuddered down the boy's back. Keeping his voice calm was difficult. "An Avatar?" he repeated with a squeak. The girl nodded. The boy released a breath and said, "I've never heard of it."

Kiku's shoulders drooped, but she immediately regained her optimism. "That's ok," she said simply. Her eyes studied her doll for a moment while the boy's thumbs twirled as he returned the other children's stares. Suddenly, a loud squelch from the boy's stomach disrupted the silence, and he acknowledged his stomach's cries that had remained esoteric until now. A deep emptiness settled in the pit of his stomach, and his senses knew nothing but the growing hunger dwelling within him. The girl eyed him as he stared down at his abdomen. Both of her hands slipped into his and tugged on his arm as she stood up. "You're hungry?" It was not a question although he nodded. "Come with me. Yumi, that woman who had come in here a few minutes ago, would normally be back with lunch for the patients in a few hours, but if we go to my house, my mom can get you food now."

The boy nodded contentedly as she led him out the same door the woman, Yumi, had. The two new friends soon found themselves running to keep pace with a bustling crowd in a sunny market street. Squat, cream-plastered buildings with roofs of yellow, green, and brown surrounded them. Vines spread like veins along many of the walls and up the trunks of blossoming trees occasionally showing up at corners of houses and buildings. The boy took in as much scenery as he could as he and Kiku hastened along with the flow of people. The girl clung to his hand as to not be separated. "Over here," she said, turning right into a friendly, less crowded ally. "Mom likes this home because it's so close to the market," she said. The boy was pulled quickly down the ally by the girl's eagerness to show off her home. Ahead was a petite cherry blossom tree situated in a patch of grass beside several steps which ascended up to a yellow portal. It was here that the girl ran up and flung open the door. "Aang, come see my house," she said, and she tugged him excitedly inside.

An olive-skinned woman looked up from many calligraphy scrolls spread out on a low table. Her smile was warm, and she placed the ink brush down on a ragged cloth. "Ah, Kiku brought home a friend," she said, looking at the boy. The woman rose gracefully from her green cushion and stepped toward them.

The boy's eyes seeped in his surroundings, mapping out escape routes if ever he needed to leave on a moment's notice. Kiku squeezed his hand, and his face looked up. "Mom, this is my new friend, Aang," she said sweetly. "He came to Yumi's yesterday morning."

The woman nodded, eyes glued to the boy as she bent at the waist to bow; the boy did likewise. "It's good to meet you, Aang. I'm Aoi. Would you like something to eat or drink?"

"Yes, yes I would," the boy responded truthfully.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3:**

The olive-skinned woman led the boy into a cozy little kitchen just off of the main room while Kiku was told to go wash before eating. A hearth was situated in the far wall of the room which the woman strode over briskly and squatted down. Muscles in her arms bulged as she lifted chucks of wood and coal to place them below a cauldron. "So you came to Nikkou just yesterday?" she asked him as she brushed the coal's soot off of her apron, and the boy nodded. "It's about time Nikkou welcomes other people." Aoi gesticulated at the logs in a manner which the boy had never seen, and flames surged out of the air toward the logs, lighting the dry wood instantly with loud crackling and emitting a plume of smoke that curled up to the ceiling.

The boy's eyes widened and he found himself stepping back. Nikkou was a town of Firebenders, and he didn't realize it until now. "You're Fire Nation!" he hissed as his arms readied a fighting stance. His feet backpedaled toward the doorway, but Aoi shook her head frantically, signaling that she did not want him to leave. "What is this place?"

Aoi's arms flung up defensively and her dark eyes widen in surprise. "No, you don't understand. We're not Firebenders!" she screamed quickly as if expecting the boy to run out at any second. She took a cautious step forward, shaking her head vigorously.

"You can Firebend! Why didn't you say anything?"

"No, not Firebend, Aang," was her quick, denying response. Her voice sounded sincere, but the boy, who had mastered caution long ago, was not convinced. He held his fighting stance, ready at any second to defend if the woman were to strike. "Nikkou is Light Nation. I was Lightbending."

The boy studied her face momentarily, scanning her features for any sign of frivolousness. When he realized she was not lying, his head was thrown back into a fit of derisive laughter which he could not contain even when the woman scowled at him. Laughing, even out of ridicule, felt good to the boy after crying simply an hour ago, but finally it ceased. His muscles relaxed, and he now leaned casually against the doorframe, staring at the woman with an expression of disbelief. "I can tell you that there's no such thing as a Light Nation."

A shadow of a smile flickered upon Aoi's face which soon resumed her expression as a mask of misery. "Perhaps not exactly," the she said hesitantly. A hiatus created thoughtful silence in the room before she said, "Lightbending is sort of a variation of Firebending, just like Sandbending is a variation of Earthbening. We technically are Firebenders, but we draw the energy from around us instead of channeling it through ourselves. The master Lightbenders rarely make fire because after years of training, we think it is easier to use the heat itself to actually bend the light. And I really wish you wouldn't mock me and Nikkou's customs."

"And what good does light do?" asked the boy. He remained doubtful to this new element, but continued to listen to Aoi's words. The boy wondered briefly if any of his past lives mastered Lightbending, and he sensed as the answer that no Avatar had even heard of Lightbending.

The woman's stony features lightened into a grin. "Light does everything, Aang. The Sun is the source of life here on Earth, and the Sun's focused photons is what creates the fire. Like I was saying, though, is that we hardly make fire unless we need it for something. Instead, the masters learn to bend the light to create illusions, and it can be very dangerous to an enemy because it can turn the enemy against themselves."

The boy smiled at the oddness of Lightbending, but if he were eventually to master the element of energy, Lightbending would be the technique to learn. The familiar feeling of connecting with an element such as this pulsed excitedly through the boy's being, and he longed to be a part of it, to master and have utter control; he had the capability needed to master Light. _How amazing it would be to create illusions! The Fire Lord would never know what hit him, _the boy thought as his hungry eyes followed Aoi's movements as she added chopped onions, carrots, potatoes, and leeks into the spurting water in the cauldron.

The gurgling stew was stirred as Aoi's gaze stared past the boy to the main room, and the boy followed her gaze to the dark hallway which Kiku had vanished off to. "I hope Kiku is alright," the woman told to the boy as much as to herself. "She shouldn't be gone this long. I've been worrying about her so much lately, with her problem and all. It worries her father sick." Olive hands were blotted dry on a towel before Aoi turned back to the stew.

The boy glanced behind him again through the room at the dark hallway. "_What _about Kiku?" his lowered voice asked.

"Oh, she must not have told you," she said quietly. Aoi stopped stirring the flavorful brew to face the boy. Hands beckoned him closer until he stood a mere two feet from her. Her voice lowered to a grave tone. "Kiku has an evil spirit that has moved into her body," she said sadly. "At least Yumi thinks it is. Her heart does not work properly. It is too weak to pump enough blood for her when she runs too fast or works too hard. The spirit is not backing down, and Kiku is getting worse each day. Yumi, she says she, um, will not," she swallowed hard, "she will not make it…" Aoi's voice broke off into a steady whisper, dismal eyes transfixed on a circular grain pattern on the floorboards. "That's why she is staying at Yumi's, so she can be watched closely. Kiku only has several weeks left to live, and I will, never be able tell her that. It will be better if she didn't know, so she can live life to its fullest while she still has a chance. Kiku believes she will get better, and I admire that strength." Aoi make a noise that sounded like both a choked laugh and a grunt, and she continued, "But strength is not always enough."

"I wonder why she never said anything to me."

Dark eyes met his, and Aoi placed her hands on his shoulders. "I think I know," she said softly. The back of her gentle fingers brushed the sides of his face, her bottom lip quivering with mixed emotions of distress and joy. Her passionate voice came out choked as she murmured, "You're the first friend she has ever had that accepts her for who she is."

The boy smiled feebly and responded, "I can relate."

**Author's note: Wow, after reading the finished product of this chapter, I realize that Aoi tends to overreact a lot. Oops. Anyways, Nikkou is a Light Nation. Before I get any Flames, please be aware that I did not create a new element, just a variation of Firebending. Any type of comment that you may have will be greatly appreciated.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4:**

For the next half hour that followed, food was shoveled with a sad attempt at politeness into the boy's mouth with distinct, hungry gusto, and the tea and water which had been served in crafted red ceramic cups had been guzzled immediately. Kiku, from across the dining table, giggled in apparent amusement at the spectacle as her mother shot her warning glares that silenced her as quickly as the boy's tea vanished. Then the five-year-old child nibbled on slices of mango as she watched the boy eat. The room was devoid of conversation; only the sounds of chopsticks tapping together, wooden spoons scraping the bottom of stew bowls, and tea being sipped remained.

The meal neared its conclusion, and Aoi finally said, "Does Yumi know you're gone, Aang?" The boy's response consisted of shoulders lifting in an indifferent shrug as his lean form lounged back, for he still knew nothing about Nikkou. From what the boy had observed during the short hours he had been in Nikkou, both hostility and friendship remained absent from the people he had encountered, save for Aoi and Kiku. "I suppose she would be searching for you and Kiku," Aoi said as she leaned forward toward the candle in the center of the table and pursed her lips to blow it out.

Kiku lunged forward and flung out an arm to stop her mother. "Wait! Can I do it?" she asked excitedly, and Aoi nodded with a smile. "Watch this, Aang." Kiku's arms flew up and were withdrawn in an odd movement that the boy recognized as a Lightbending technique as the girl puffed out her breath to blow out the candle. There was an exaggerated pause before she broke into a fit of jubilant laughter and announced with glee, "I'm a Lightbender!" Soon the dining room filled with laughter as Aoi and the boy joined in. The joyful din concealed a rap on the door.

A firmer knock on the main door silenced their howls to dispersed chortles, and heads turned as eyes scanned through the main room at the front door.

Now, an angered fist pounded on the front door.

Silence fell upon the homes interior, and curious glances were exchanged around the dining table.

The angered fist pounded again on the door, and shouts sounded from the ally. "Grant the Light Elites entrance!" an authoritative feminine voice shouted from the steps.

Aoi's eyes widened and the boy heard her whisper in awe and fear, "The Light Elites!" Slowly, she rose to go to the door. Her hand waved at the two children. "Stay seated," she whispered, "I'll find out what business they have here."

As if the people on the other side of the solid wooden door had heard, the woman's voice continued and said, "Jurou wishes to speak with Avatar Aang! Open up if you do not wish havoc upon your home!"

The boy's heart nearly skipped a beat at the calling of his proper label: Avatar. He knocked his chair to the stone floor, leaping to his feet in a panic. Simultaneously, a strong kick snapped the door's lock, and the door flung open with a bang. Nearly a dozen warriors, both men and woman clad in yellow uniforms, surged into the room, the torrent of a flood. Aoi and Kiko scrambled back, wide-eyed and astonished, staring at the boy as if seeing him for the first time. They had not known his true identity. The boy readied an Airbending stance, and the warriors surrounded him in a preplanned circle around the room, dutifully heedless of the family huddled together in the corner. A young woman stepped forward, stabbing blue eyes focused on the Avatar, merely a boy longing and searching for a normal childhood that was now simply fantasy. "Surrender yourself; you are no match for us, but we have no intentions of bringing harm to you. Nikkou's leader Jurou demands that we take you to him," she said in a stern, yet steady voice.

The boy hardly flinched, and responded icily, "No, you let me see my friends now!" The warriors inched closer when they saw that the Avatar would not back down. Such force in the first place would have been unnecessary, but this ridiculous entrance tipped the boy over the edge. If they could not trust him, he would not trust them.

"Step down," the woman said again, "and we will have no reason to harm you."

The boy had heard this threat too many times in his life to take it seriously, but the boy's amusement from the woman's threat was pushed away quickly by the situation surrounding him, masked as warriors. Instead, anger slithered through his veins, vanquishing the amusement and joke in this particular circumstance. Without another moment's hesitation, the boy dropped low the floor and swung a leg in a low kick, and wind was summoned from the room. The power rushed in a current and slammed into the warriors who were thrown brutally off their feet. As soon as the attack completed itself, the boy blinked and opened his eyes to velvety blackness. Astounded, he stepped forward. His foot came in contact with what must have been a chair leg, and he stumbled blindly forward. His arms flung out to catch his fall before landing on Aoi's shattered ceramic dishes, a shard now perforating through his right wrist. An anguished howl echoed through the room before his arms were seized by violent hands, and his head was pressed into a wall. Colors swirled behind his eyes. He could see again and suddenly became aware of warm blood seeping from his wrist down to his numbing fingertips where it dribbled as dark ooze to Aoi's floor.

A man held him tightly. The woman entered the boy's sight. "Arata, release him! He's injured." The man stepped away from the boy. Knowing he had already lost, the boy ceased attacking and sunk to his knees, air rushing through clenched teeth in a pain hiss as he gripped with a trembling hand his bloodied arm. The authoritative woman rushed to his side and took hold of his wrist with a firm grip. With her other hand, she gripped the triangular, ceramic shard boring through his wrist and piercing through to the back of the joint. "Close your eyes," she ordered, and the boy quickly obliged. With one, hasty movement, the woman jerked the shard from his wrist, and the boy bit his cheek to prevent himself from screaming out. Blood gushed freely, oozing as a warm liquid to a dark puddle on the floor, and the woman tore stripes from the bottom of her white, cotton undershirt, tying them tightly around his wrist. As she worked, she hissed, "Aang, Jurou will not be happy about this, but if he wants to speak with you, a sliced wrist will not stop him. You understand?" The blood was scrubbed harshly off of his other hand by remaining stripes of cloth. The woman took his hand and pressed it over the bandaged wound, and said, "Put pressure here, and don't stop or it will continue bleeding. We're taking you to Jurou."

**Author's Note: I give thanks to TTAvatarFan for the nice review. I accept any type of review, even Flames, so please don't be afraid to share your thoughts on the story.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5:**

The boy absently dragged himself to his feet, his shocked hands grasping his wrist. His conscious remained heedless of the sympathetic mother and daughter in the corner, attempting to catch his eye as he passed with the warriors forming a tight ring around him. It was not long before the group was in the ally, shuffling down the stone path. They made a right into the market street where swarming crowds melted out of the way of their regal procession.

The boy peered around the warriors to glare back at the many curious gazes from the commoners, and his eyes averted up at the woman warrior striding next to him. "Where are we going?" he asked in a trembling voice, his short legs nearly at a run to keep pace with the warriors' long strides.

At first, the woman did not respond, and the boy thought she had not heard him and was about to repeat the question when she replied, "We're taking you to Jurou." There was silence, and the boy grew restless, agitated that the woman would not explain herself. His mouth opened to speak again, and the woman's stony eyes met his. "Jurou is the town leader. We are going to meet him with your friends at the town's fortress, which is in the center of Nikkou. I cannot explain anymore details because the Light Elites have merely been given the instruction to take you there."

The boy nodded, clenching his teeth in pain from his wrist, which was finally letting up on the bleeding. Several minutes passed, and they proceeded down the main street, eventually ending up in a plaza where the sun reflected an aurora of dazzling white light as it passed through the spurting water from a circular fountain which was situated proudly in the center of the plaza. The largest building in the town loomed over them. Its' bricks were whiter than the surrounding buildings, and two spiraling pillars stretched up to support a golden rooftop that extended to shade the dozen steps that led up to a magnificent portal. Two gardens on each side of the steps remained the home to six cherry blossom trees and several decorative ponds.

The boy had little time to take in the scenery, for he was rushed along by the warriors, who hardly took a second glance at the beauty. They entered the building and went into a wide corridor where yellow drapes hung from white marble walls. Through a door on the left, they descended a spiraling staircase in single file to arrive at a narrow door. The boy was met by three pairs of excited arms tackling to hug him the moment the door opened, and he was squeezed into a tight embrace by Katara, Sokka, and Toph.

All three of his friends spoke at once, asking questions and telling stories. The boy did not listen to any one of them, for he was bathed in the jubilance of being in the presence of his friends once again, secure again. "Are you alright?"… "I so glad you're here,"… "What happened to you? Where were you?"… "I've missed you so much!" The boy merely beamed and nodded at their words, all the pains of reality forgotten for the brief moment they greeted one another.

Suddenly, the talking ceased as Katara seized the boy's wrist and announced, "You're hurt." Without another moment's hesitation, she unwrapped the makeshift bandage and poured water over the wound from a water skin hanging from her waist. Her hand pressed over the wound, and when it was removed, there was a faint scratch that made the wound appear like it had healed already for several weeks.

The pain in the boy's wrist turned to a dull ache, and he glanced up gratefully into his friend's bright blue and twinkling eyes. "Thanks, Katara," he murmured shakily with an overwhelmed grin, and the four friends embraced again in a group hug, gripping each other as if they would become separated again.

Suddenly a booming voice filled the room, bellowing, "Enough! Avatar, sit down. We must speak." All attention was drawn to a tall man in the corner of the windowless room where a long table stretched the width of the area. The man was lean, but broad-shouldered, and he sported a black, grizzled goatee. Although his expression seemed alert, dark shadows beneath his eyes made his face look sunken and mischievous. He sat proudly at the head of the table, his booted feet resting on the table's polished surface, chair tipping back lazily.

Katara finally pulled away from the reunion and led the boy to a seat next to the man, and introduced him as Jurou, the town leader. Katara sat beside the boy, and the rest of the group wandered around the table to seat themselves across from the boy and Katara.

Jurou waved a hand at the reluctant warriors, dismissing them out of the room before Jurou sat up, leaning on his elbows as he faced the boy. "Avatar Aang, what an honor it is to be in your presence," he said in a gruff voice, though awed nevertheless. The boy had grown accustomed to this gesture over the time from which he had emerged from the iceberg, but now, he shifted uncomfortably in his chair as the man made eye contact with the boy, speaking directly to him as if the boy's friends did not sit in the room at the table with them. "Welcome to Nikkou. I trust that Yumi, our town healer, has expressed Nikkou's hospitality well?" Jurou paused hardly a moment to wait for a reply before continuing quickly, "I am glad. You have already met Aoi and her daughter? The family is kind folk which I am honored to have met in my lifetime. They have much to say about politics around the world, about the war and all."

The boy nodded, exchanging glances with his friends that clearly told him that it was not only the boy who thought this town was slightly out of the ordinary.

"Anyways," the leader continued, disregarding the odd looks which he received. "Politics is a touchy subject in my town. While I try my best to keep out of the war, talk and gossip amongst the commoners regarding news on the war is obviously inevitable, but I allow it. People here are offered a sanctuary from the imbalance caused from the human characteristics of greed and hunger for power, as proven quite forcefully by the Fire Nation.

"Here in Nikkou, we do not allow other folks to discover our town, hence, our unusual bending techniques, and no, Aang, we are not Firebenders. We are proudly Lightbenders: a distinct difference. However, I have not brought you here to give you a history lesson about Nikkou, for more pressing matters call us." Jurou paused to study the young Avatar's face, which never before looked more unsettled as he was stared down by this chilling man. Jurou ran a rough hand over his greasy goatee. Then he said, "I have heard news, Avatar Aang, of the great battles which you have fought, whether single handedly or with help from friends. You must be proud of these well known achievements; I know I would be if I were in your shoes. You have endured more than I can ever dream of enduring, and yet, I take pity on you. Your people, they must have been a great race to raise you to be so noble and strong. But now that you are one hundred years past that time, I cannot fathom the emotions that you must be encountering."

The boy shut his eyes, bowing his head. This, however, was not of longing to be back with his family at the Southern Air Temple, but this gesture was to shut out this man's face and words. The boy felt all eyes in the room bore into him, though it was the feeling that Jurou's eyes hadn't left him once during this conversation that unnerved him the greatest. This creepy feeling was enough to be competing with the unease that had come shortly after Azula's lethal lightning strike. This man's stare gave the boy the feeling that the man could see directly into the boy's mind, reading him as if he were an open book, made to be shuffled through willingly. Katara must have sensed this, because she had placed her hand on his shoulder for comfort. The boy suppressed a shudder and opened his eyes to meet Jurou's.

The man continued, "I apologize if I am upsetting you, but the reason I had wanted to see you was to offer you something that your life has clearly neglected to provide for you. I am offering you a childhood, a home, a sanctuary. You have done enough for the world, and it is time for you to take a break, set your worries aside. Nikkou is providing you a shelter and a home, something that you never fully had the glory of having for over one hundred years."

There was a loud clatter as Katara's chair topped backward as she sprang to her feet, her face a rosy red and fists trembling in anger. The boy recoiled, waiting for her to start hollering, but it never came. Katara's voice strained in an effort to stay calm, and she hissed, "Are you suggesting, Jurou, that Aang just throw aside his duties and responsibilities as Avatar as he lives up the good life?"

The man hardly flinched, but examined her expression with slight apprehension as if noticing for the first time that others were in the room also. "Throw aside his duties and responsibilities, no. Live up the 'good life', yes. Everyone needs a solid foundation in their life to be successful, Katrina… Katara? Whatever… Aang needs a foundation which will be provided by the home and secure family offered in Nikkou. Aang has jumped directly to 'saving the world', but this confidence and training will get him nowhere if he doesn't have roots in the ground to stay a hero. The world is expecting that he remains a hero."

Katara fumed, and her voice rose to a venomous shout. "The reason Aang supposedly doesn't have a childhood is because he is ready for so much more! You try balancing three elements and the world's fate on your shoulders, see how you handle it!"

At this time, Jurou had gotten to his feet as well as Toph and Sokka. The boy, however, remained seated, slouching in the chair as if trying to vanish into the wood, being nobody at all as his life was being argued over.

"This is what I am talking about," Jurou said icily. "Aang cannot handle this major business. Sure, he's the Avatar, but do I have to remind you that he's only twelve? He needs this opportunity for a break, a chance to live a real life."

Sokka spoke up now, his tone serious and deep. "Aang can handle this, and we cannot waste time here while he can be training! As much as we all want one, now is not the time to live a normal life. We need to plan strategies so we can be alive to live a normal life!"

"What's this gibberish about not having time? We always have time! What's the harm in Aang taking a break? He needs a home, a place to look forward to going after the war and a place to fight for," Jurou said.

The boy's eyes followed from speaker to speaker as words battled two different perspectives of the war and how the Avatar would go about resolving this. He had had enough, though. He was sick of people controlling his life, and he wanted more than anything to find a way to prove that he could choose for himself. This particular situation, however, was one that would satisfy either one person or another. The boy must either choose to fight in the war or not. Jurou's tactic seemed the most appealing, but he knew Katara was correct: he couldn't run from his duties.

As voices started rising to even greater volume levels and fists started pounding the table, the boy decided that he could not stand this, and he quietly pushed his chair back and stood. As the argument raged on, hardly anyone but the boy was aware of him as he strode to the door. He exited, but instead of making a quiet exit as he planned, a summoned wind slammed the door shut as the boy ascended the staircase, sweeping his torn emotions with him.

**Author's Note: Please review. I hope you are liking the story.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's Note: Ok, I will start this chapter by saying that I had intended this to be a powerful, warming chapter; but instead, it turned out kind of lame. This is definitely the oddest writing I have done, but I promise that the story will get better in a few more chapters.**

**Chapter 6:**

The boy headed back to Yumi's hospital where he had woken up confused just that morning. He went to bed early that night, expecting to wake up feeling better. The next morning, however, he had proven just how wrong he had been. The element of Balance, the boy realized is stronger than anything else in the world; it affects every action, hence, it affects every outcome of those actions. Balance is the key to life. Too much of a good thing or bad creates an imbalance, and too much of a good thing would make those things not seem good anymore while too much of a bad thing can drive one to madness. This fact nags at everyone, for maintaining balance takes more discipline than anything else in the world, it takes a battle that must solely be fought by those individuals who strive for Balance. However, the battle itself can draw up an entirely new element: the element of emotion. One cannot win Balance without fighting Emotion. Emotion is sinister, and can conceal the desire for Balance by what one truly wants.

Now, in the boy's particular case, he wanted a childhood and home more than anything else in the world, and this clouded his better judgment. As the boy opened his eyes to face a new morning and the struggle for Balance, Emotion's qualities of rage and confusion dwelled in the center of his heart like a crouching tiger waiting to pounce and consume him. Anger to gain control of his life crawled inside of him. He wanted to scream at the top of his lungs, but he knew nothing like screaming could rid him of this burning infection.

Other children slept as the boy slipped silently from his bed and crept through the door to greet an overcast dawn. He was surprised to see the streets empty, save for several beggars jingling coins inside their caps as the boy sped past. The boy did not dwell on the subject of why he felt angry and confused; he just wanted to escape this world, escape reality. Like wings beneath his feet, he ran, gaining speed as he exited through the town's open gates, entering a meadow where wild flowers dotted the ground with colorful specks. His arms lifted at his sides as a warm breeze brushed his skin, running through his fingers as if the air were liquid silk. Carried with the wind was the soothing fragrance of flowers and pine swept through the trees from the surrounding forest. The wind beckoned him further, prodding him to enter the wood. He obliged to his element's calling, dashing into the density of trees. Pines and maples rushed past as he sped into the forest, twigs scraping the boy's arms and cleaving at his face. A pond soon came into view, and he dropped down at its bank, inhaling sweet oxygen to settle his heavy breathing. The boy's eyes fixed on the pond's murky depths, and he glared back at his reflection.

The boy wondered how he could have been chosen as the Avatar. He was simply a boy. Jurou was correct; he never had a proper childhood. All he could remember of the childhood which he had received at the Air Temple consisted heavily of training as his friends excluded him from their games. _It would be nice to relax in a safe home,_ he thought to himself.

He had responsibilities, the boy knew. The war occurring in world could not be forgotten just so a lazy boy could find the simplest pleasures in life. The monks a century ago had told him, "Life is filled with pain, something no one can run or hide from, for it is always there." It was not until now that the boy truly felt the reality of the monks' words, yet he could not imagine how taking a little break from being the Avatar could do any harm. The world had lasted a hundred years without the Avatar; a month or two more couldn't be much different. The boy knew, however, that times were now different. Sozin's comet approached.

A sound behind him drew the boy's attention away from the pond, and a small voice cooed from the shadows of the trees. "Aang, why are you crying?" Kiku's innocent form crept into the light and seated herself next to her new friend. She slipped her hand into his.

It wasn't until Kiku arrived that the boy noticed the tears leaking from his eyes. He rubbed them away with his free hand. "I'm sorry, Kiku. I'm just not feeling my best right now," he murmured. He did not want a young girl bothering him when he was like this. He needed to be alone, and Kiku being with him was the last thing he needed.

"Why?" she chirped, her bright eyes meeting his with curiosity.

The boy forced a smile and responded, "It's nothing really, Kiku. Don't worry too much about me. I'm fine." He was agitated that Kiku showed no signs of wanting to leave him. Anyone could be able to see that he needed to have a quiet time to himself, a time to sort out his life.

"No," came her firm response, startling the boy. Kiku's expression hardened with determination, and her arms folded stubbornly across her chest. "You aren't ok. I heard my mom talking with Jurou. Don't you want to stay in Nikkou? It's pretty here." Her eyes never left his, but he looked away, uncomfortable that a five-year-old girl could read his emotions like a book. She continued, saying, "_You're_ an Avatar. Mom explained it to me. She was surprised when the Elites called you that, but I don't know why." The boy simply nodded, and the conversation went on a hiatus as they listened to birds chirp happily in the trees. Dawn's natural beauty developed around them as they sat. The air smelled sweet as a warm breeze rippled the pond's glossy surface. Gradually, a peace welled inside of the boy. The atmosphere felt so friendly, and the boy couldn't help feeling at ease. It must have been no coincidence that the wind led him to this pond. Then Kiku said into the silence, "I knew you were different. It said in my dream."

The boy studied her face, trying to single out the features that would tell him whether she was messing with him or not. He shot her a quizzical look. "What do you mean?" he asked casually, concealing the wonder that struggled to be released.

"My dreams. They tell me stuff, but I don't always understand them," she explained, brushing locks of her light hair from her face. Her groping hands plucked a wild daisy from the earth, and after giving the flower a quick sniff, she fingered it as she spoke. "Like about how you are the Avatar. I really didn't hear adults taking about that the day you came to Yumi's. My dream told me. It wasn't until Jurou was talking to Mom that I knew what an Avatar was." Suddenly, Kiku didn't sound like a five-year-old anymore. Instead, she spoke as if she were ten. "My dream last night was different, though. It didn't tell me things. I just saw an image, but I knew it was about you 'cause I thought about you before I went to bed."

It was the boy who was eyeing her now as she averted her eyes. He wondered for a brief moment whether she was making up a story but knew from her innocent air that she could not possibly tell lies to him. "What do you mean?" he asked again as he pieced her words together into a story that made logical sense to him.

"I saw a picture," she started slowly as if trying to explain something to a younger child. "There was a black rock in the middle of a large meadow, sort of like the one outside of Nikkou. Then a pretty red flower grew out from under the rock. It told me to tell you something important."

"The flower?"

Kiku squinted at him, obviously irritated. "No! I _told_ you this dream didn't tell me anything. The flower… it's kind of hard to explain… but it gave me information without saying anything! That's why this was different." The boy couldn't imagine why Kiku told this to him, but whatever Kiku meant seemed urgent. Kiku continued after a short pause, "My dream made me realize that I need to tell you that you need to continue being the Avatar. I don't understand how you can stop being the Avatar, though. It just doesn't make any sense. Anyways, the dream thinks that by being the Avatar, you should make a…" she trailed off, her eyes fixed on a shrub set on the pond's bank. "I heard a big word…" She shook her head. "What does com-prim-use mean?"

The boy instinctively followed her eyes to stare at the shrub. "Comprimuse? I don't know, Kiku. Is that what you heard in your dream?" he asked as he tried to figure out if he had heard the word before. Then it dawned on him. "You mean a compromise?"

Her face brightened. "Yes! That's the word! My dream said you should make a compromise by being the Avatar, but you should train in Nikkou." Kiku hummed a tune into the silence that followed her words. Then after a moment, she said, "This dream is one I didn't get, but at least I told you." Then she got up and turned around to face the way which she had come. "Mom wants me back for breakfast, I think. Bye!" she said abruptly before trotting off into the dark shadows.

The boy watched her as she sped out of sight. He resumed staring into the pond, pondering what Kiku had told him. She was correct; he couldn't give up being the Avatar. However, that did not mean he couldn't stay in Nikkou. If he needed to learn Firebending, Lightbending would be the form he would choose. That's what he would do. He would learn to Lightbend as long as he stayed in Nikkou, then he would gain a home as well as seeing to fulfill his duties. This was so simple, and he wondered why he hadn't thought of it before. He knew why, though. He hadn't thought of the plan because he allowed his life to be controlled. He wasn't only the Avatar, and he wasn't only a boy. His life needed balance. Too much of one thing was bad, so balance was the key to happiness and success. He wasn't only a boy anymore. A boy was a child meant to have his life controlled and nurtured, but he wasn't simply the Avatar, either. An Avatar carried much weight on his shoulders. He couldn't stand that kind of pressure, but to be a little bit of both, his life would become prosperous. No longer would he allow his life to be pampered like a child's. He would be in control and make his own decisions. Suddenly, Aang felt older, prouder, more like the Avatar he was destined to be, and he felt more himself than he had felt since he disappeared in the iceberg.

Then Aang heard a voice inside his head, saying, "You have mastered the element of Balance."

Proudly, Aang rose to his feet and followed Kiku's path out of the forest.

**Author's Note: To avoid any confusion, Kiku has the ability to see tidbits of the future through her dreams. Yeah, it's weird, but like I said before, the next few chapters will make up for it. The next chapter should be up tomorrow. Please review.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Author's Note: Thanks again to TTAvatarfan for all the reviews. This is a shorter chapter than I would normally write, but it sets up the next chapter well, which should hopefully be amazing.**

**Chapter 7:**

Katara, Sokka, and Toph had been given a guest room within the fortress' basement halls. Jurou had insisted that Aang stay in a room of his own across from his friends, but partly out of Aang's desire to lead his own life and partly to be with his friends, he politely declined Jurou's offer, and servants moved another bed into the room where his friends stayed.

They were happy to see him when Aang entered the large, square guest bedroom furnished with two small beds that rested against the room's far wall. Sokka and Toph lay on two other beds that had found homes within alcoves in the walls on each side of the room. Katara leapt up from her seat at the desk next to the door when Aang entered, and she flung herself into Aang's arms. Aang felt the usual sense of security and pleasure seeping from Katara's fibers into his own whenever they were close. For a moment, Aang wanted something more, a lust that would bond them for eternity, but Katara pulled away, and the feeling vanished. "Aang, we're really sorry for upsetting you yesterday," she said to him as she pulled out the desk chair for him to sit on.

Aang shrugged, and accepted his friends' earnest apologies without a remark. Aang had a reason to thank them, not accept apologies from them. His friends made him realize that he needed to be the one in control of his life, whether his friends intended to do that or not. He proceeded in telling them about the decision he had made. He had made up his mind about not telling them about what Kiku had told him. He felt that to tell them about Kiku's dreams would be betraying her trust. Kiku had never given him permission to share her secret, so Aang settled on biting his tongue about the matter.

Katara was not too keen on the idea of staying in Nikkou, but Sokka agreed that Aang's plan would be the best route to go, and Toph eagerly agreed with whatever Sokka had to say. Katara still wouldn't give up the matter of Aang's Avatar duties, and seemed to create an excuse to leave Nikkou. "I doubt that Jurou would allow you to learn Lightbending, Aang," she would say every time the subject would come up.

Aang would simply respond, "It's time I take my training into my own hands. If I want to find a Lightbender to teach me, I will." However, Jurou seemed to be a strict and stubborn man, and the idea of asking him for a trainer had not been very welcoming to Aang.

Aang tried to hold off his request throughout the day, but that night, when Jurou had summoned Aang into his conference room, the opportunity to discuss Aang's decision was inevitable. Jurou had been waiting for Aang when he arrived at the same room that they had met in the previous day. This time, Jurou greeted Aang at the door with an over-friendly handshake and bow. "Let's sit, shall we?" he said, beckoning Aang into a seat across from him at the table. "I must apologize, Avatar, for the argument yesterday. I was not thinking clearly." As Jurou smiled apologetically, Aang recognized deceit beneath Jurou's sympathetic mask, and Aang scowled in return. "Anyways, have you decided to stay in Nikkou?"

Aang returned Jurou's sinister stare, feeling as if all his secrets were exposed for Jurou's judgment. "Um, actually," Aang started to say hesitantly.

"You are too young to understand the benefits of staying here, Avatar, but I can insure you, it is the right decision," Jurou offered quickly. His words suggested a sense of urgency that Aang stay in Nikkou.

Aang's temper rose a degree, and he dug his fingernails into the back of his hand to stop himself from spitting a rude retort. Jurou must have considered Aang a young, incapable child. Aang was tempted to leave Nikkou to prove that he didn't have to listen to Jurou, but he imagined Avatar Roku telling him that the Avatar should be the most powerful person in the world, a person that needed to be in control. It was time for Aang to take charge. "I don't like being interrupted, Jurou, just like anyone would, and I have made up my mind. I will continue my duties by staying here and learning Lightbending. You will have a trainer informed of my instruction by noon tomorrow, and unless you stand against my training, I will find it somewhere else. Do we have a deal?" Aang asked sternly. The sound of his own voice surprised Aang; it had sounded ten years older.

Aang knew by Jurou's stony expression that he had won himself a master to train with. "Very well, Avatar, I will find you a trainer," Jurou said unenthusiastically.

Aang couldn't help but grin as he left the room that night.

**Author's Note: Did anybody catch the pairings? There was some Kataang, and a snippet of Tokka, but Tokka was very subtle. Anyway, review please.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Author's Note: Thanks to TTAvatarfan, E Zach, and Kataangfan22 for the lovely reviews!**

**To E Zach: Yes, I've noticed Aang is kind of out of character, but don't tell me that, tell Aang because he's the one who is acting ooc. LoL, jk, I'll try to make the characters more like themselves, and thank you for letting me know.**

**Chapter 8:**

The next morning, Aang was eager to learn who his instructor would be, yet doubt still lingered in his mind, and his trust in Jurou weakened since Aang first met him. His friends also didn't completely trust Jurou, and they had made an agreement to stay on guard when conversing with the man. Aang wondered what he and his friends would do if Jurou changed his mind and deny Aang of a trainer.

To pass the time, Aang dragged Sokka along with him as he visited Appa and Momo in the town's stables, where Aang's loyal friends were looked after and fed. A large, pink tongue greeted Aang the moment the stable caretaker, an older man named Wei, ushered them in.

Wei waited at the stable door, watching them longingly and running withered hands through graying hair. As Aang stroked Momo, the man released a great sigh, and said in a dreamy voice, "I remember the days when I had a loyal bitch. She was called Riko and was the greatest friend I ever had. That's what I love about animals: once a friend, always a friend." Aang turned toward him as he released another exaggerated sigh.

Sokka raised an eyebrow in the man's direction. "Don't you have ostrich horses to feed or something?" he asked.

Aang saw a flash of hurt pass the man's face. Finally, Aang asked, "Would you like to go for a ride on Appa?"

This offer seemed to make the man's day. He grinned broadly and strode over to Aang, patting him on the head. "That's a good lad, respecting his elders, unlike the half generation before you," he croaked, glaring at Sokka. Then his face brightened again. "Let's go for a ride!"

However, the moment they were in the air, circling above Nikkou, Wei started screaming like Aang had never heard an old man scream before, and Aang reluctantly led Appa down again to the stable.

After that, Wei told him and Sokka to leave, and they obliged without argument.

When noon finally came, a messenger brought a note to Aang that explained that Jurou had found an instructor whom he was to meet in Nikkou's meadow as soon as he received the message. With excitement bubbling through him, Aang set off immediately for the meadow. Jurou stood waiting for him outside the town's gates. When Aang approached, he asked, "Who is my instructor?" Jurou merely gave him a bright smile, revealing yellowing teeth, and at that moment, Aang knew something was not right. He repeated the question.

"_I_ am your instructor," he stated proudly. "Surprised, are we? You didn't expect an old man such as myself to be dim-witted and weak, did you? There's a reason I had been chosen as Nikkou's leader. I am the strongest Lightbender in Nikkou." Aang glared as Jurou grinned malevolently. Aang had the sense that Jurou had planned this out, but Aang made the quick decision of showing no weakness toward Jurou's trick. The young Avatar continued to glare at Jurou, and as he spoke, the hatred for this man deepened to pure loathing. "I had never fully gotten the chance to explain Nikkou's customs to you. We don't teach children, but seeing as you're the Avatar, I think we have an exception. Many of the people we teach, Aang, are not aware how powerful and dangerous a Lightbender can be."

Aang cut in bitterly, saying, "Any master can be dangerous."

Jurou was silent for a moment as his stern eyes studied Aang. His hands stroked his goatee as if immersed in thought. "If you want to learn from me, there will be no interruptions, child, and when you have something to say, you will can me either Sifu or Master. Got it? Good. As I was saying before I was _rudely_ interrupted, many students don't know what a master Lightbender can do."

"_Sifu _Jurou," Aang said angrily. "All of the nations are equal in power, and you are wrong to say that one is better than the other. Consider the war. The only reason it's occurring is because the Fire Nation believes they are better than the other nations!"

Jurou smirked malignantly as his arms unfolded from across his chest. He laced his fingers together and stretched his arms out in front of him, cracking each finger. "Prove it then, _boy_, and let this be your first lesson."

Aang then realized what was soon to happen: they were to duel. Aang wouldn't allow an arrogant man to prove to an Avatar that one element was superior to another. He had learned a long time ago that everyone around the globe had equality. Everyone from an Earth master to a Sky dweller, and a Fire maker to an Ocean worker had equality. Sokka proved that even non-benders could be as powerful as a master.

Now, as Jurou and Aang circled each other, Aang wanted more than anything to prove to his new trainer that Lightbending was just another element. Whether Jurou would still teach him if Aang had won, Aang didn't care, because his training now seemed irrelevant. He was determined to show the world the truth of equality, and he would start with Jurou. They stood face-to-face, waiting for the first strike. Not only would Aang prove equality in the Nations, but he would prove he was more than a helpless child.

Aang took the first strike, and his foot pounded against the earth. Large boulders rose from the ground, and with a powerful kick, sent the stones plummeting through the air toward the man. The stones crashed to the ground in a spectacular explosion of pebbles and dust. Jurou had vanished from sight, but then a chuckled whirled Aang around to face Jurou. Waves of fire flickered toward Aang, and he conquered up a current of air, blowing the heat out.

Jurou charged at Aang, moving his arms in an odd motion above his head. Flames burst from the air as the man charged, but the Avatar leapt gracefully into the air, landing a secure distance from his opponent. "What are you doing, boy? I'm over here!" called Jurou's voice from behind. Aang whipped around once more, and a forceful wave of heat hit him from behind, buckling his knees. He scrambled up, but Jurou had already vanished. Then the man's voice sounded from all around him. "The thing with Lightbending, Aang, is that it's all physiological, unlike the other Elements, which all deal with physical power."

"That doesn't make it better!" Aang shouted. His temper boiled inside, crying to get loose in an uncontrolled frenzy. Aang summoned a wind that shot brutally away from Aang in every direction. Wherever Jurou stood, he was sure to be hit, and indeed he was. A shout sounded, and Jurou could be seen lying on his stomach thirty feet away. Aang took the opportunity to attack, and the earth rumbled as rocks withdrew from their homes, spinning dangerously toward Jurou. Jurou's arms moved in a strange movement, and he disappeared again, but this time, to reappear far behind Aang.

"This is easy Lightbending, Aang. Wait until you see, or in this case, imagine what I have in store for you!" Jurou bellowed triumphantly. Aang was about to retort an angered response, but his vision black out just like it had done at Aoi's house. Jurou's voice could be heard, "This is a classical move, one that has been used for centuries. The brain is a powerful thing, Avatar. Once you learn to manipulate it, anything is possible. Do you surrender?"

Aang hadn't been taught to surrender; he had too much honor for that. As an answer, he repeated the Airbending move that had knocked Jurou off his feet, but this time, no shout had come, only laughter. Stones flew at the sound with no result. Aang now knew the darkness Toph endured each day. Then, he imagined Toph saying to him, "Have you absorbed anything I taught you, Twinkle Toes? Learn to listen!" Quite suddenly, he became aware of earth's vibrations. He listened harder, and everything within the earth appeared as clear as a bell. He felt the tall meadow grasses, sucking Mother Nature's sweet water from the ground, he felt ants burrowing colonies in the soil, and he felt worms being ripped from their homes by hungry sparrow-doves. Aang sensed Jurou to his left, still laughing, and Aang clenched his fists and pulled them toward his waist in the way that Toph had taught him. A startled scream told Aang that his attack was successful, and his vision came back to reveal Jurou sucked halfway into the ground, arms pushing fruitlessly on the ground to gain freedom.

Jurou looked furious as he struggled, and a vein pulsed in his neck. He bellowed, "This isn't over!" A bright, blinding flash of light burst behind Aang's eyes, and he backpedaled in surprise. "Surrender and I'll make it go away," Jurou snarled.

"What's the honor in that?" Aang nearly screamed. He, like Jurou, grew angrier, but as his anger developed, so had his determination. He punched the ground, and he felt Jurou being ejected from the ground in a shower of stones.

The man landed on the ground with a soft thud, and once again, Aang's vision returned. Jurou had doubled over on the ground, clutching his stomach. "Let's call it a draw," he choked.

"No."

Jurou's face turned red with rage, and he body trembled with anger. "Fine, you win! You fight well," he growled.

Aang felt he had earned new respect as he left his first Lightbending lesson.

**Author's Note: If you haven't noticed, I've been updating everyday, so tomorrow, I'm taking a break. The next chapter will be up on Monday, but until then, everybody will have lots of time to review. :)**


	9. Chapter 9

**Author's Note: As usual, thanks to all my reviewers: TTAvatarfan, Kataangfan22, E Zach, and joehalo15. I have recently uploaded a drawing of Kiku which you can find a link to at my profile if you are interested.**

**WARNING****: Character death!!! It's not a main character, but I was still crying as I wrote it.**

**Chapter 9:**

Time seemed to bleed as weeks flew by during Aang's training. Days seemed like hours, while weeks went like days. By the third week of Aang's training, he had learned to conquer fire from the air as easily as he can summon a wind from the sky. Nikkou's history seemed as familiar to him as the history of the Southern Air Temple, where Aang had found a home a century ago. Jurou explained in full detail how a teen boy under the name of Kichiro discovered Lightbending after being unable to Firebend about five hundred years ago. The only Avatar to have come in contact with the Lightbenders was the Waterbender before Kyoshi: Avatar Kuruk. The time which Kuruk had befriended one of the Lightbenders had been a period which the Lightbenders guarded their secret with utmost delicacy, and Kuruk never learned of Lightbending.

Aang went through heavy training each day and reached the point where he could create minor illusions, such as dim the sun in one area by directing the light away. Even without saying so, Jurou seemed pleased with his progress.

Aang and Jurou each recognized the loathing that lingered between them. To Aang's morbid satisfaction, Jurou seemed more bothered to be teaching Aang than Aang was to learn from him although Jurou was the one who agreed to teach him in the first place. It had become a game to them, pushing each other for signs of weakness in this training arrangement. After the first two weeks of training, however, both Jurou and Aang had learned to accept their hatred for each other, and focused on what needed to be done rather than proving whether the pupil or the instructor had more tolerance.

Training started slightly after dawn each day, and lasted until noon. Aang would visit Kiku after his lesson, and they spent afternoons together. Kiku clung to Aang like an older brother, and Aang felt like he had a sibling for the first time in his life. To Aang, the feeling of having someone who looked up to him as a role model was the best feeling of all.

Now, as Aang walked back from his lesson in the meadow, he and Kiku had planned a walk to the pond where wild raspberries were known to grow abundantly. Kiku waited for him just inside Nikkou's front gates. She bounced back and forth on her heels as her tiny paws clutched two woven baskets, and she ran up to Aang when he appeared through the gates. "Hey Aang!" she shouted excitedly as her small arms wrapped around him in a hug. "Isn't it exciting? My birthday's in four days! I'm turning six!"

Aang grinned and congratulated her like he had done everyday that week when Kiku reminded him to get her something good for her birthday. Just the previous day, Aang went browsing through the market shops and had seen a hand-crafted jewelry box with carvings of butterflies on it. Tiny pink and yellow rhinestones colored the butterflies. Aang knew at once that this would be the perfect gift for Kiku. He had promised her she would like her gift and had to bite his tongue against Kiku's pestering to make him to reveal the gift ahead of time.

They preceded with their walk to the pond, Kiku explaining the entire way every detail that had been planned for her birthday party. Aang soon lost interest, but nodded politely every once and a while and listened.

The pond seemed restless as it reflected the mournful sky laden with heavy clouds, and a wind swayed the trees by the time Aang and Kiku arrived. Aang glanced apprehensively toward the heavens. "It looks like it's about to rain. We should head back," he suggested, but Kiku stamped her foot on the ground, placing her hands on her hips in a stubborn fashion.

"No! You said we can pick raspberries," she stated as she puckered out her bottom lip.

Aang knew changing the mind of an almost six-year-old would not be easy, and he said instead, "Alright, fine, we can stay for a little while, but if it starts to rain, we go in." Kiku seemed satisfied enough, and she nodded and dashed to the nearest berry bush, tossing a basket to Aang. As they plucked raspberries from the bushes into the baskets, Aang caught Kiku plopping the sweet berries into her mouth on more than one occasion. As the afternoon wore on, Aang sensed a subtle change in the atmosphere and knew it had nothing to do with the weather. He brushed away the odd feeling that gradually pressed down upon him; this was supposed to be a day for picking berries with Kiku. The sensation continued to nag him, and again he said, "I think we should go back."

Kiku must have either recognized the urgency in his voice or felt the change as well because she agreed to return to Nikkou.

Just as they emerged from the forest, the sky darkened immensely with a plume of black smoke emitting from the center of Nikkou. Aang and Kiku halted in their tracks, watching from afar at the smoke as they stared in thorough devastation. The urge to run toward the calamity welled inside of Aang. "Let's go!" he shouted at Kiku, and he took off, pelting toward the town with a passionate heart to help. Kiku sprinted at his side as they crossed the meadow. Their forgotten berry baskets fell from their hands in the midst of the friends' race. Slowly, Kiku lost speed, dropping several yards from Aang. As they neared Nikkou's gates, a frenzied din presented itself over the roar of flames, but one sound stood out above them all.

Kiku released an anguished scream. Aang whirled around. He knew something was very wrong even before his eyes met Kiku. His small friend had crumpled to the ground, doubled over and clutching her heart. Aang raced to Kiku's side, asking desperately what was wrong, but he already expected the worst. Kiku shook her head, eyes squeezed shut as if trying to block out unseen pain. Her breathing sounded labored, and grunts of hurt came in between gasps. Gray light filtered through the clouds, shining upon Kiku's ghastly face to reveal terror. "The… the spirits, Mom didn't think I knew… it is my time for death," she wept in between wheezes.

Then Aang understood. Her heart failed her. Aang held her to him, rocking her back and forth, brushing tears from her eyes. "Don't talk, it'll be alright," he choked out. He had a strong desire to scream for help and had a longing to save Kiku, but he knew the spirits were prepared to take her, and he could do nothing but to be there as she passed the last stages of life. Suddenly, he wished he had spent more time with her to make her last minutes happy ones rather than having her die as she watched her home burn. Aang felt he shouldn't have made her run. He should have been more careful with her, but now, as the two of them held each other, Aang knew nothing could be done for her now.

Panic seemed to consume Kiku's senses, for she cried hysterically as her lungs cried for the air that brought her life. "I don't… want to die," she forced out. Her face hid in Aang's shoulder as she sobbed, and inhaling and exhaling air sounded similar to a vacuum in Kiku's desperate attempt to regain her breath.

The tiny figure in Aang's arms started coughing with violent force. Aang stroked her hair, rocking her back and forth, back and forth, muttering comforting words. With a last brutal cough, a mucus-like substance was ejected into her hand which Kiku absently wiped away on her shirt. She became very still as if her body had given up the fight. Kiku and Aang both cried with passionate sobs as Kiku gulped for oxygen. "It hurts to breath. Don't leave me." Her voice became a weak whimper.

"I won't." Aang just continued rocking her, as if he would never stop. Suddenly, nothing else in the world mattered but Kiku. "Don't be afraid, Kiku," he cooed into her ear. "Much better things await you." Now, the din from Nikkou muted. The wind smelled bittersweet as the two friends shared the moment together. Only the part of waiting for the Spirit of Death to come remained. Stillness rested like a velvety blanket over the meadow, a silent dread. Their weeping blended together in the silence, filling the meadow with a mournful song that slowly faded into earth's stillness with a final decrescendo. "I wanted to tell you, I had gotten you a jewelry box for your birthday." Aang's strained words sounded odd in the quiet in an attempt to lighten the mood.

Kiku's eyes slowly closed, and a whisper flowed from her cracked lips, "How was it?"

"It had rhinestone butterflies on it," he replied. He squeezed her hand, and she squeezed his in return. "We will meet again, Kiku. I know it." Her head nodded slowly. Then quite abruptly, Aang and Kiku shared the strong connection of friendship. This was true friendship, and although Kiku would leave earth, they wouldn't be apart. Everything in the universe was connected; even a link between the living and the dead remained, and Aang whispered, "I'll be with you through the end."

"Mm'hm," she murmured, and her tense face calmed. The Spirit of Death dutifully came upon her like a whisper in the wind and drew her soul up with it, leaving behind a body in the form of a little girl, limp in the boy's arms.

**Author's Note: -silence- Just review. Sniffle.**


	10. Chapter 10

**Author's Note: Thank you E****Zach and TTAvatarfan for the reviews, and sorry, E****Zach, if I disappoint you when it comes to the "****giant fight scene with awsomtastic bending moves". That will probably come in the next chapter. LoL.**

**Chapter 10:**

Aang wept over Kiku's body as minutes, maybe even hours, melted by. He allowed his grief to consume him like the flames now consuming the town of Nikkou. The young Avatar had forgotten his duties, and that crestfallen boy inside yearned for security; he needed someone just to hug him and convince him that life can still go on. Aang knew that life _must_ go on, but he continued his lamentation, letting his tears fall like silver rain upon his still friend, dampening her tunic with dark splotches.

He neither cared nor wanted to care about his responsibilities dwelling amongst the burning buildings of Nikkou. The world seemed pointless to him now, for in the end, everybody will die, a new generation will be born, and circumstances concerning the war will change. Aang longed more than ever before to have the Spirit of Death take _him_ away, to float effortlessly away from the struggles of the world, lifting the burden from his shoulders, granting someone else the responsibility of creating peace throughout the nations.

Aang was hardly aware of the hands dragging him away from Kiku's body, but a harsh slap across his face snapped him back to reality with brutal force.

Toph tugged at him with a sympathetic expression masking her face. Both of her arms were hooked under Aang's arms, and she yanked hard, trying to pull him to his feet. "C'mon, Aang, _get up_. I'm not good with this comforting stuff, but we need you," she groaned with a final tug, letting Aang fall to the ground again.

Aang scooted back to where Kiku's body lay. "She's dead. It's my fault," came his somber words monotonously as he stared into Kiku's lifeless face. He wondered where in the Spirit World her soul left to.

"It's not your fault. I bet you did all you could, but now we need to _go_," Toph pressed. Aang didn't move, nor did he want to. After Toph realized this, she said briskly, "Look Aang, if you don't help, more people will be dead, and entire families could die." The girl paused for a moment with a stony expression; she seemed to be growing irritated, but determined nevertheless. "Grieve later. C'mon Twinkle Toes; I don't want to have to hurt you!"

Toph issued an empty threat, but with a final glance at Kiku, Aang reluctantly dragged himself to his feet. Aang slowly started heading back toward Nikkou, Toph walking patiently at his side with an arm around his shoulders to insure that he will not stop again. The world appeared differently through Aang's eyes. The optimistic child he had once been became lost amongst his anguished quintessence. He only saw hatred and hopelessness that had been distorted into love by the pride that subtly devoured the world. However, with this new sight into the universe came the longing to end it, to end the spreading hate and pain, and Aang recognized that hope had not been lost. He was the world's hope, and no matter how much he wanted that responsibility out of his life, he knew deep within himself that it could not simply vanish. The world _was _pointless to him, but the many victims of the war depended on him to bring light back to the world. He needed to make the world better; he needed to make lives of the many broken people on earth better.

Aang found himself running, Toph no more than several feet behind him. They sprinted through Nikkou's gates, toward the black plume of smoke that now rained ashes, coating their clothing and skin with the gray dust. As they neared the heart of the town, more and more people ran around in frenzy, searching for water to save their homes from burning devastation. Aang had his eyes locked on the fortress. The white bricked walls had turned black. Bricks and wooden beams that heaped haphazardly around the building revealed that the second floor had caved in. The fortress's delicately crafted pillars had plunged to their destruction, crumbled in fragments on the ground. The fire seemed to have started here and spread to the surrounding homes and shops.

Many of the Light Elites worked to direct the fire away, while Katara could be seen drawing water from the fountain in the center of the plaza. Aang watched as her powerful arms merged the water into a wave, and an entire shop was saved by the carefully navigated wave.

"Oh, Avatar Aang!" wailed a familiar voice. Aoi appeared at Aang's side, and she clutched his arm with ferocity in her grip. "Where's Kiku!" she yelled over the uproar of flames and shouts. Aang went speechless, unable to explain what had happened. His mouth opened a gap, resembling a blubbering fish. Aoi now forcefully shook his shoulders, pleading in her eyes. "Please! What happened?"

Aang's head shook in denial, but words escaped his mouth, replying, "She's happy now. Her pain has ended." Aoi's hand shot up to cover her mouth, and Aang couldn't bear to see her reaction. He whirled around and ran the other way, fresh tears creating wet streaks in the layer of soot as they rolled down his face to collect in murky droplets on his chin. He reminded himself that Nikkou needed him, and he couldn't let his emotions distract him from what needed to be done. His grief was a dark cloud in his mind, reducing him little by little into that insecure little boy that shadowed him, just paces behind as he walked forward with false confidence.

Toph called him over at the far end of the central plaza. She explained quickly that she and Katara agreed that if he and Toph could Earthbend a hole deep enough to reach groundwater, they could use that water on the fire, and Toph and Aang soon set to work, grinding their way through the pavement stones and ground clay. Smoke poisoned the air with the odor of burning wood and plaster, and a hazy gloom spread over the town. Gradually, a pile of rocks formed beside a large chasm deep in Earth's crust. Aang and Toph shone in a layer of sweat and grime as they continued to haul stone from the ground. The noise of Nikkou's frantic citizens gradually ceased as they evacuated to the meadow. The streets had been deserted save for the several noble Light Elites who had chosen to help doused the flames and find any people who may have been trapped amongst the wreckage. Slowly, the flames devoured each building and home, leaving scorched and withered shacks behind. The fierce blaze ceased to small flames and hot embers near the central plaza, where the fire had originally bloomed.

Suddenly, through the red haze, two figures sprinted forward, and Aang's summoned gust of wind pushed the haze away. Katara and Sokka stood before them, breathing hard to catch their breath. Aang's eyes wandered to Katara, whose breasts rose and fell with every inhale and exhale.

"The fire is spreading in the meadow!" panted Katara as she wiped sweat from her forehead.

Sokka nodded in confirmation, and added, "If this keeps up, the people will have no place to go. Do we have a plan?"

"I thought you were working on that," Katara responded bitterly.

Toph turned in their direction as she stepped away from Earth's black mouth. "I think we've reached water. My work here is done," she said, indicating to Aang and Katara that it was their turn for Waterbending, and Toph started jogging toward the meadow with Sokka following closely.

As Aang and Katara watched Toph and Sokka run through the haze and out of sight, Aang suddenly remembered that Kiku's body still lay in the meadow where the uncontrolled flames now spread to bring destruction to anything in its path, and Aang started running in Sokka and Toph's wake, leaving Katara to finish his job. Katara's pleading shouts became lost to Aang in the pounding of blood rushing through his head, and he became blind to everything but the mission to recover Kiku's body. The Avatar wasn't sure what made him turn around for Kiku, but he felt Kiku didn't deserve to have her body perished in the flames. Buildings roaring with fire rushed past him as he sped through Nikkou. The meadow ahead had been engulfed in flames, hungrily stretching toward the forest, and Sokka and Toph were escorting commoners in the direction of the ocean two miles out of Nikkou.

A silhouetted form huddled in the tall grasses stood out against the flames: Kiku's body. Aang surged forward, parting the flames with Lightbending gestures as he went. He dropped to his knees next to Kiku, sliding his arms under her knees and shoulders, lifting the still form from Kiku's death place. The clothing she had worn and her honey-colored hair singed black.

The monks at the Southern Air Temple had always taken deaths seriously, and from what Aang experienced from deaths at the temple, he knew that a soul wouldn't be at rest until its body obtained a proper recognition ceremony. Aang refused to take the body from its home in Nikkou and allow it to be burned lying in the blazing meadow. Aang was reminded of the pond where Kiku had spent her last happy moments. In an instant, Aang was running with an Airbender's speed toward the wood. As twigs and branches snapped at him as he ran by, he used his body to shield Kiku's. Soon he burst from the brush to arrive at the pond's grassy bank. The fire had left nature's sanctuary momentarily untouched. Tenderly and gently, as if handling fragile pottery, Aang laid Kiku's placid form upon the terra. Even more vigilantly, Aang drew a string of water from the pond using a Waterbender's graceful movements and cleansed Kiku's face of soot.

A grave opened from the earth with a pound of Aang's foot, and he slowly placed the body into it. It didn't seem enough, and Aang pulled a wild daisy from the ground and laid it over Kiku's heart, arranging her arms to rest peacefully over her abdomen. Aang stood back to honor Kiku's resting place with a last glance before hefting earth's soil back into the grave.

From the depths of the pond, a white stone was withdrawn. Engraved upon the stone's smooth surface from delicately wielded Earthbending were the chosen words:

_Kiku,_

_A burst of light amongst_

_the darkness of the world._

_Sleep now._

Whispered from the boy's lips were the words, "Rest in peace," and Aang learned to let go.

**Author's Note: The next chapter will probably take a few days now that school will be starting tomorrow (bummer). I hope you are enjoying reading my fanfiction as much as I enjoy writing it, but I'm stuck between two decisions. I could either end the story within several more chapters and start a sequel in a few weeks, or I can just jam the entire story together in one very long story but update less frequently. The reason for this is because I'd like to place my schoolwork before Avatar (believe it or not), but whichever choice I go with, the story will be the same. So, please let me know what your preference is, and I will take that into consideration.**

**Wow, that was a lot of words. Anyways, as usual, please review.**


	11. Chapter 11

**Author's Note: I apologize for not updating sooner, but between schoolwork and my writer's block, posting a new chapter has been difficult. Anyways, much thanks to my reviewers. This is a shorter chapter, but there are awesome bending moves (at least I tried to make them awesome).**

**Chapter 11:**

Aang didn't squander any more time than he already had giving Kiku a respective burial and turned slowly from her grave, a burden lifted from his shoulders, but grief still coated his soul with its dread. He now prepared to turn his attention to the duties that had been waiting for him since the start of the fire. He knew the fire could have been stopped earlier if he had placed his responsibilities first, but the past was pushed behind the Avatar, and he looked to what needed to be done now.

The fire had spread its wrath upon the forest's clearing, roaring in delight as it devoured the forest. Frantic animals dashed to safety, squealing, grunting, and squawking. Aang turned to the pond. His arms moved with a powerful grace, lifting an enormous globe of water from the pond. He felt the power and the connection to the element, and he directed the water at the flames enclosing the pond's clearing in a ring of heat. He spun on the spot, and from the globe formed a large circle of water. It spun around the Avatar in a controlled circlet, storming outward toward the flames and slapping the trees with its force. The water doused the hungry blaze with a sizzle.

Aang allowed his feet to carry him forward, plowing through singed brambles toward the meadow. With every step he took, determination to amend Nikkou drummed inside of him in an increasing crescendo. The burning energy flared through the wild grasses and flowers, and Aang stopped before them. His fists thrust out twice above his head, lifting a slab of flaming earth. Then the slab flopped facedown, sending out a spray of loose dirt and snuffing out a ring of blaze. From the other side of the meadow, the flames swept through the grasses, crackling in excitement as it ravaged the life from the vegetation in its path. Black smog continued to billow from the town, turning day to an eerie red night. Aang knew at once that he alone could not stop this calamity, and he stood in the center of the meadow, feeling the heat close in around him, hot against his skin. His Airbending was useless here; air would feed the fire, and the other elements would not be enough. Only for a brief moment, as flames spread over the area which Aang's Earthbending had previously dispatched, Aang felt a myriad of hopelessness consume his mind before flickering out innocently.

It was then that Aang called upon his past lives, the millions of Avatars before him. Shutting his eyes gently, he felt through the layer of emotion in his mind, searching desperately for a deeper entity amongst his inner turmoil. Then he felt the subtle existence of mastery and control, and he embraced it. A connection had been made, and Avatar Aang felt the power of the universe, he felt the familiar feeling of potential flooding through his veins, reaching his very soul and essence. Every one of his past lives, every man and woman Avatar before him, filled his body to its capacity, using it as a vessel to blend the greatest powers in the world. Aang felt all the pains, all the burdens, which these lives endured, and he knew he was not alone in the world. Now, every experience merged into one source. A blue light burst from behind the Avatar's eyes, and he rose up in a torrent of flames, bending the element of energy beneath trained fingers.

Every flame from the wreckage of Nikkou flowed like liquid amber toward the most powerful quintessence in the world, channeling through Aang's body. The blazes in the forest and meadow found the Avatar's experienced hands. The fire jumping through Nikkou like a plague soared from its path to answers its summoning. The ultimate being drew the flames in closer, carefully compressing the flames into a tight orb of energy, and suddenly, the Avatar flung its fists outward, and the fire vanished. The black smoke that clouded the atmosphere, too, was pulled in and packed into dust that sprinkled like dark snow to the ground, fertilizing the soil with hopes of new life.

Gradually, the Avatar touched back down to earth. The power and comfort of Aang's past lives seeped rapidly from him, returning home to the Spirit World, and the blue light faded, draining Aang of stamina and energy. He fell forward and collapsed, exhausted as he pressed his cheek against the warm ashes from the meadow. His eyes closed with the usual fatigue after calling upon the Avatar State. His arms rested uselessly at his sides. For a moment, he refused to move, and strength slowly restored itself.

The world stilled after the distant shouts of people and the roar of flames, and an unnatural silence settled upon the Light Nation. Then the sound of boots crunching through the pebbles and dirt came toward Aang's limp figure, echoing through the silence. Within two feet of him, they halted. Judging from the sounds, Aang suspected there were at least two people before him. After a pause of muteness, a gruff voice asked abruptly, "Is he dead?"

A deeper voice from behind Aang gave a quiet grunt and responded, "I don't know, but we'd better do what we got to do and get out o' here." Aang was believed to be unconscious. He lay where he had fallen, trying to be still as he played along with their game, but he couldn't sooth his restless nerves and pounding heart. A boot nudged one of his legs, and Aang instinctively pulled his leg back. "Good, he's alive," the deeper voice continued. "If Jurou finds out that we started the fire, he might take back his offer."

A bark of laughter nearly made the young Avatar start, despite himself. "Simply take back his offer? Are you nuts?" the first voice asked incredulously. "He'll be furious! I don't know about you, but Jurou gives me the creeps."

"Then the sooner we leave, the better. I don't trust that old psychopath myself." Suddenly, calloused hands gripped Aang's arms, and in Aang's panic, he cracked his eyes open to face shined Fire Nation boots, and his arms jerked in the man's hardening grip.

"Ah, shit, he's waking up," the first voice cursed, and strong hands took hold of Aang's feet. He's blurred vision focused on a middle-aged, lanky man clad in a Fire Nation soldier's uniform. The man squatted as he adjusted his hands on Aang's feet. Aang mustered all the strength he had in him, and he sent a violent kick at the man. His foot met soft flesh, and a pained gasp was issued from the man. The grip on his arms intensified as swearing came in constant intervals at his feet. The man behind Aang dragged him up by the arms until his feet dangled three inches from the ground.

"Damn it, Ryuu. Get up!" the man who held Aang bellowed as Aang's legs kicked wildly in the air. The grip did not loosen, and Aang stiffened his body and leaned his weight into the man. Aang knew he had found trouble; he barely had the strength to fight. In the midst of struggling, Aang caught a glimpse of the man, Ryuu, at his feet hauling himself up. As Aang was held in the air, Ryuu's arm drew back.

Suddenly, a burst of pain exploded on the left side of Aang's face, and the images through his eyes blurred into darkness. He had lost consciousness.

**Author's Note: I have decided to continue on with the story. However, I will not be updating everyday, maybe only every three days or so. I hope you are enjoying the story, and please review.**


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